Contenu du sommaire : Sens et émotions en ville

In the 18th century, the outskirts of Paris were, of course, a venue for urban leisure activities, as well as the location of places that were particularly foul smelling. Bad odours were linked to the city and can be investigated as a criterion of urban living, in reference to the history of peripheral areas, pollution and sensitivities. To carry out this research project, we have analysed police reports written by the clerks of the seigneurial courts which, just outside the capital, are the most direct documents about the reality of, and opinions on, the bad odours. Thus, it becomes apparent that the city produced bad odours due to the concentration of substances resulting from the demand of city dwellers, and expelled these odours in the form of rubbish. Throughout the period, Paris exported both its sources of pollution and its intolerance of pollution.

Processions embody a tension between emotions, senses and religious devotion. The pastoral emphasised an appeal to the senses, emotion and feelings. This notably involved a transformation of the urban space into an actual stage. However, this use of the senses had to be controlled, both by the faithful participants and the authorities, in order to maintain decency. A procession demonstrated emotions such as fervour or recognition. Miracles or memorial processions were based on this sensorial relationship. Reference to a patron saint was another mode. All these processions call for a reinterpretation of the urban space, which took form around this affective and religious dimension. However, this sensorial interpretation is also challenged: by travellers faced with other pragmatics of emotions, by Jansenists that were critical of Baroque liturgy, by a portion of the urban elite who were opposed to the tactile culture of proximity, which was rapidly described as common or rural. In the ways it was organised, its goals and how it unfolded, the procession reveals the complex ties between the urban space, emotions, the senses and rituals.

Each time the royal family celebrated a birth, the monarchy – along with the city authorities – organised public celebrations, allowing the population to show an almost natural joy for the sovereign and royal family. Apart from the political theory connecting the sovereign to his subjects through the sharing of joy, the actual demonstrations of jubilation were reflected in a wide sensorial range, sometimes involving synaesthesia that was perfectly controlled by the city authorities. The senses harnessed for joy helped define the identity of Paris vis-à-vis the monarchy: the sensorial demonstrations of joy therefore became criteria for urban life subject to His Majesty.

In the contemporary period, the acceptance of children in outside spaces is indisputable. Nevertheless, children's games could sometimes cause annoyances for adults. In this respect, the urban setting exacerbated some kinds of sensorial disturbances, noise in particular, and accentuated certain fears. City dwellers were bothered by noise, and others might fear for their property or their safety. Emotions ran high, all the more as children were victims of kidnappings or accidents. While certain elected officials in Paris played on this register, the municipal authorities did not always give into collective emotion. However, it implemented measures that shaped the city: regulations, street signage, or marking off areas reserved for young children. These represent visual indications of the attempts to delineate urban activities or to call for watchfulness.

A study of local tourism stakeholders and their policies reveals a repertoire of emotions sparked by several senses. The sense of sight is undoubtedly the most developed one, through the passion for landscapes, the taste for tourism posters and the appearance of tourism films. The sense of taste is targeted by the development of gastronomic tourism, which appeals to the pleasures of trying a new delicacy or a dish that has been reinterpreted or even reinvented. The sense of smell is central to certain museums, making the tourist a full-fledged participant; one example is Grasse, the ‘‘capital'' of perfumery. Travel must be prepared and experienced, so the tourist is always motivated by his or her emotions. Conversely, the developers of urban tourism are motivated by their own emotions, by their passion for their region and their enjoyment in sharing this feeling with others. To present their region to tourists and enhance the offer of tourist services, these developers sightsee and try out regional specialties, leading them to meet people and form friendships. Their interactions with tourists by correspondence prompt them to transform the urban space in a quest for wellbeing and a desire to surprise and innovate. The offer of tourist services appeals to tourists' senses through cultural celebrations, festivals, or sound-and-light shows. Gradually, the emotions of tourists and inhabitants converge to form a community that shares the same values.

In this article, we will describe the most frequent ways to avoid paying taxes in the Kingdom of Naples during the last two centuries of the Middle Ages, during the Angevin and Aragonese monarchies. I analyse what we mean by the word ‘‘fraud'' during that period, what the tax systems were, and how the kings tried to resolve the problems.

During the colonial era, investment property in Oran constituted a way of organizing the city, as well as a rich and varied architectural and artistic repertoire. Even today, it contributes strongly to the structuring of the spaces of the city, as well as to the enrichment of the architectural environment. Also, the diversity of investment property that we can see in the city was not meant as decor, but results logically from often conflicting interests that shaped the urban fabric. This article proposes to examine these constructs and seeks to demonstrate, through a typological reading of the investment property of Oran, that behind an apparent typological uniformity, we can highlight a very complex process of evolution.